1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a composite material and a method for making the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Composite material generally includes two or more kinds of solid materials having different properties. Composites material formed by nano-particles and a matrix material have excellent physical properties and generally have a core-shell structure. According to a prior art, a composite material is formed using nano-alumina particles and a titanium oxide matrix. The composite material is prepared by sintering. The sintering method is generally suitable for preparing composite material having a ceramic matrix, but is not suitable for preparing composite material having a polymer matrix material, thereby restricting the application of the sintering method.
To solve the above problem, a light-emitting zinc oxide-polymer material, e.g., zinc oxide-polymer particle, having the core-shell structure and a method for making the same is provided. A zinc oxide quantum dot with a size of about 10 nanometers is distributed in the core of each of the zinc oxide-polymer particles. The shell of the light-emitting zinc oxide-polymer particle has a two-layer structure, an inner layer that is poly methyl methacrylate and an outer layer that is polyethylene glycol mono methyl ether. A sol-gel method is used to make the zinc oxide-polymer particle, and the method includes: dissolving zinc acetate in the anhydrous ethanol; adding lye to promote hydrolysis of zinc acetate, thereby forming zinc oxide nano-particles with modification of organic double bond; adding a trigger agent and polymer monomer into the above reaction system, initiating polymerization reaction, and forming copolymer shell on the surface of the zinc oxide nano-particles.
This kind of composite material can undergo surface modification during application thereof to make it have different surface activity, and thus can be applied in different fields. However, the zinc oxide-polymer particle with the core-shell structure just has one zinc oxide quantum dot. When a plurality of zinc oxide-polymer particles are required, such as when the light-emitting zinc oxide-polymer particles are used as fluorescent marker in the medical field, a large amount of surface modification agent is required. Furthermore, the method for making the zinc oxide-polymer particle is complicated.
What is needed, therefore, is a composite material and a method for making the same in which the above problems are eliminated or at least alleviated.